Free Christmas with a Soldier (Soldier Series Romance Novellas) by Makenna Jameison Page A

he gazed at me.  I wondered if he noticed that my car had slid into his and suddenly felt myself flushing.  Nothing like explaining to a handsome stranger that I’d accidently rear-ended him in the icy conditions.
    “You better turn around; the bridge is out,” he called out to me in a gruff voice.
    A few snow flurries continued to fall, and he shook his head, brushing the snow off himself as he approached.
    “I know , I just noticed.  I was actually looking for you though because I accidentally rear-ended your Jeep.”
    He walked the remaining twenty feet to where I stood, his dark brown eyes narrowing.  “You’ve got to be kidding me.  As if I needed another problem today.”  He brushed past me, walking over instead to inspect where our car fenders connected.
    I awkwardly stepped back, letting him examine the damage.  “I’m really sorry,” I said.  “I slowed down, and the anti-lock brakes came on, and I got a little startled by the whole thing.”
    “You’re not supposed to pump the brakes,” he said exasperatedly.
    “I didn’t.  I mean, I’m sorry, but I don’t think there’s any damage.”
    He continued looking at his vehicle and then finally fixed his dark eyes on me.  He had dark stubble covering his face, like he hadn’t shaved this morning, and his eyes looked a little tired despite the harshness in them.  His mouth was set in a firm line, and I couldn’t quite tell if he was angry or just indifferent.  There were no military bases near our small town, and I wondered why he was wearing fatigues.  Was he here on official business?  Or maybe just visiting someone?  He finally seemed to realize that he hadn’t responded to me, and he cleared his throat.  “Look, just forget about it.  I’ve got enough on my mind without dealing with you, too.”
    I narrowed my eyes slightly , taken aback, confusion flickering across my face.  Dealing with me, too?  What a jerk, I thought.  It’s not like I’d intended to get into a car accident this afternoon.  And it’s not my fault that he’d stopped and abandoned his car in the middle of the road.  If he wanted to go check out the bridge, he should have at least pulled off the road first.
    “Whatever,” I said, holding my hands up in defeat.  I turned back to my car, and as he stepped away, a piece of paper fluttered to the ground.
    He walked off in such haste that he was already pulling open his door as I bent down to retrieve it.  “Hey!” I called out after him.
    “What?” he snapped, turning back to me.
    I instinctively stepped back, the paper still in my hand.
    “Where did you get that?” he asked angrily.
    “You just dropped it,” I replied, looking warily at him.
    He walked back over, this time stopping directly in front of me.  He was 6’1” an d towered over my small frame.  My eyes ran up over his broad chest and shoulders, memorized the lines of his strong jaw, and eventually met his gaze.  Although his eyes seemed to soften slightly as he took in my expression, I started to feel slightly concerned.  Although this road led back to town, there were no other cars in sight.  Of course, no one could come from the opposite direction, leaving town, with the tree blocking the bridge.  There could be a whole traffic jam on the other side of it for all I knew.  I was stranded out here with a complete stranger, one who seemed to be a bit of a jerk at that—a handsome jerk, but not that it mattered.  I needed to get going and didn’t want to waste another minute figuring out what his problem was.
    “Here,” I said, thrusting the paper at him without even glancing at it.  “Have a nice life.”  I turned and walked back to my car, angrily climbing inside the driver’s seat.  I watched as he shoved the paper in his pocket and walked away.  “What a jerk,” I muttered to myself.  I grabbed my cell phone from the dashboard and realized that I didn’t have any reception.  Great, just great, I thought.